Broncos trade for quarterback Brady Quinn from Cleveland

If nothing else, the Broncos made this year’s preseason and training camp a bit more interesting on Sunday, trading for quarterback Brady Quinn.
Quinn, a former first-round pick, has a lot of name recognition because he was a college star at Notre Dame. His NFL career hasn’t been as...

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If nothing else, the Broncos made this year’s preseason and training camp a bit more interesting on Sunday, trading for quarterback Brady Quinn.

+ captionBrady Quin is headed to the Broncos. Photo by

Quinn, a former first-round pick, has a lot of name recognition because he was a college star at Notre Dame. His NFL career hasn’t been as successful, but now he gets a change of scenery. And the Broncos didn’t have to pay much for him.

Denver sent running back Peyton Hillis, the team’s leading rusher in 2008 who had only 13 carries last season. The Broncos also traded a 2010 sixth-round pick and a conditional 2011 pick.

That’s not a huge price for a quarterback who was as touted coming out of college. In three years Quinn has started just 12 games. He has 1,902 yards, 10 touchdowns and nine interceptions. He couldn’t beat Derek Anderson for the starting job in 2007 or 2008, and in 2009 he had a mediocre season.

In his last six starts of the 2009 season he two solid games and four poor outings. He had 304 yards and four touchdowns against lowly Detroit, and 271 yards and three touchdowns against San Diego. In his other four starts, he didn’t throw a touchdown and didn’t pass for more than 100 yards in any of those games.

Still, Quinn is young, at 25 years old, and inexperienced. A Broncos spokesman said coach Josh McDaniels and general manager Brian Xanders were unavailable to comment on the trade. Most likely, Quinn will begin his Broncos career backing up starter Kyle Orton. But, in that scenario he would be one of the highest profile backups in the NFL and should become a popular player in Denver if Orton struggles.
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